John Thomas Rose Lance Corporal 1270 - 4th Bn. Guards Machine Gun Regiment Killed in action on Friday 23rd August 1918 age 23 Buried in Douchy-les-Ayette Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France John Thomas Rose was born at Keele, about 1893, to David Rose from Heather, Leics., aged 29 and his wife, Mary, from Silverdale, about 25. In 1901 the family were living at Keele Lodge. David was a police constable and John’s older siblings were Frederick, Elizabeth and Annie, with Amy Anne aged 3 and Percy just born. Two years later the Roses were in Stafford, where Elsie was born. David Rose became Police Sergeant in Gnosall, and his children Ettie, Frank and Kittie were born in Gnosall between 1906 and 1909. By 1911 he had retired and was now listed as a police pensioner and dealer. The family were living in Station Road. John, aged 15, was working as a farm labourer. His sister Amy aged 13 was now working as a servant for the Gilling family in Lichfield Road, Stafford. (In 1936 she married Frank Stacey who owned a timber yard by the chip shop, and Old Stacey’s in the High Street is named after the sweet shop she ran there.) John enlisted in Gnosall into the Welsh Guards as a Private, 2261, but later became Lance Corporal 1270 in the 4th Bn. Guards Machine Gun Regiment and was awarded the Victory and British medals. He was killed in action on Friday 23rd August 1918, age 23, and was buried in Douchy-les-Ayette Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France. I.C.9. “A memory prized far more than gold His worth to us can ne’er be told” – Mrs M Rose, 107 Sandon Road, Stafford “Son of David and Mary Rose of 107, Sandon Road, Stafford. “ David Rose survived to 1946; his wife Mary had died two years previously.

Family home 1911

Douchy-les-Ayette Cemetery Historical Information Douchy-les-Ayette was in German occupation from October, 1914 to the 21st March, 1917. In March, 1918, the enemy advanced as far as the Communal Cemetery, and held it for a few days. The village was never completely evacuated by the inhabitants. It contained a German Cemetery of 380 graves, now removed. The British Cemetery was begun in August and September, 1918, by the 3rd Division Burial Officer; and the 81 graves then made are scattered among eight Rows in what are now Plots II and IV. It was enlarged after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields of Arras and the Ancre and from other burial grounds